Barkeep
Moving to a new place is always difficult. Moving from one side of a town to another is an enormous pain in and of itself. Moving from one side of a country to another is significantly worse. One of the things that makes moving cross country hard is that it can sever ties to friends in what once was your home. In the digital age it’s much easier to keep in touch with people than it once was. However, there is something to be said about being with friends in person. Moving doesn’t just mean learning new routes to work, or finding new restaurants, it means creating new connections with people. For many of us, meeting new people can be difficult. Every interaction with a stranger brings with it a host of uncertainties. We can never be sure what the other person is really thinking. Two people can have vastly…
The Title Comes Later
It’s been a while since I published anything on my site. It seems appropriate that this story would be my triumphant return to the web. Or rather, my return. For the most part, I enjoy writing, which should be obvious. At this point the only reason I post it online is because I like doing it, and some of it’s pretty decent. Even when you like something it can sometimes become a chore. Stories often create themselves, but sometimes they require a bit more coaxing. Sometimes they just become an unfinished Word doc cluttering up your hard drive. A drop in a terabyte bucket. Every once in a while, falling back on a gimmick that you yourself think is kind of stupid is what brings the story back to life.
Lech
Every introduction to this story that I’ve thought of thus far has been horribly cliche. Nonetheless, I need to dress up this intro somehow, at least enough to pique your interest so that maybe you’ll take the time to click the link, download, and then read the story. I have been told by one of my proof-readers, who has been gracious enough to read my work, long before it was remotely suitable for public consumption, that this is her favorite thing I’ve yet written. Given the fact that we frequently trust the praise of strangers, called critics, I hope you will give this one a read.
The Inheritance
There are still a few people in the world who it is socially acceptable to openly hate, or at least to dislike. Trust fund kids are among them. On the surface it seems reasonable to be upset that someone would be the beneficiary of unearned riches. On the other hand, what business is it of mine, or yours? It isn’t only money, belongings, capital, or useless knick-knacks that we inherit from our progenitors. There are genetic blessings, and curses, as well. Beauty, a tendency to alcoholism, a tendency to athleticism, allergies, good or bad vision, a multitude of strengths and weakness passed down through generations. Beyond the material and the physical we also receive a psychological inheritance, which of course overlaps with the physical inheritance already referred to. For better or for worse we hold certain personality traits in common with our parents. In the instance where one parent is…
Fever Dream
While working on music for a different project, I inadvertently created a sound not unlike a siren. A sound, which while inappropriate for the project I was working on, seemed like it would be useful for something, and over the course of an evening that something became “Fever Dream.” This is an entirely unsponsored plug, but I used Audacity, a free, downloadable sound mixer to create every sound in Fever Dream, aside from whatever I originally recorded, which honestly I’ve distorted to the point where I have no idea what the original sound was anymore. I think I took it from some spoken dialogue. It seemed like there should be some video to go along with the music, so we threw that in too. Enjoy!
Complaint
Customer service, in any capacity, has always been difficult for me. If it were possible I’d prefer not to interact with customers at all, and that is rarely possible. Obviously, patrons are an important part of any business transaction. Without anyone to buy stuff there would be no one to sell a product or a service to, and therefore no way to fund my continued existence. I have no skills that would sustain me outside of a market economy. In order to survive we must all serve in some capacity. We must be useful in some way, and then get paid for it. Nonetheless, it’s easy to resent the customer for requiring our services; it’s as easy as resenting bad customer service. Despite my distaste for working directly with customers, I’ve had few bad experiences serving in that capacity. That is not to say that I have not had any.…